Steelers take it to the Browns in Cleveland

There’s been plenty of talk this season that the Browns are improving. And maybe they are. But they’re still the worst team in the AFC North.

The Steelers made that crystal clear today in Cleveland, going on the road and whipping the Browns in all phases of the game, winning 27-11.

Cleveland’s offense just couldn’t get anything going. With starter Jason Campbell in the game, they managed just three points. Then Campbell left with a head injury, and Brandon Weeden was his usual terrible self.

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was efficient if not spectacular, completing 22 of 34 passes for 217 yards, with two touchdowns and no interceptions.

But the story of this game was more about what the Browns did badly than about what the Steelers did well. Cleveland is still a last-place team.

73 responses to “Steelers take it to the Browns in Cleveland”

People called me crazy when I said Pittsburgh wasn’t out of this thing. Right now, they have the inside track to the last wild card. My dream scenario is for them and the Giants to get to the Super Bowl so maybe people will finally stop and realize how much the quality of the league has deteriorated under Goodell if teams that started a collective 0-10 made it to the championship, which was unheard of when he took over this job.

Goodell doesn’t make personnel decisions for every team does he? Your comment makes no sense. The league is much better when there is no clear cut dominance. It keeps the interest level up, that is his job. And he is dong that quite well.

just taking it 1 game at a time..today the browns..next up the Ravens thursday. After being all but counted out the Steelers are doing what they do best, prove everyone wrong! Wonder if that over rated air bag Sapp still thinks this Defense is to old and over the hill!

When the steelers come to town the browns should just throw the white flag in I mean they are just no match to the steelers remember when James Harrison slammed that brown fan LOL ” I hate the steelers” and he was crying

You’ll lose to Cincinnati (again…..in s must win game) in S#!tsburgh…..And then if thst isnt enough 4 ya, you’ll lose in Lambeau against the A.Rodgers led Packers .
Congrats Stiller fans, you had to suffer through the first 4 Weeks only to have this nice little run squashed out by REAL teams. Enjoy it while it lasts!

Things I knew before the season Mr. Banner did not
1) You cannot run the ball with the guys we kept.
2) You cannot run the ball with out a fullback (See L. Vickers)
3) You cannot pass the ball without a running threat.
4) You cannot pass the ball without a quality QB.
5) Special teams can win games but not if you do not have special players. (See Cribbs, Benjamin and Dawson)
6) Gregg Little cannot catch consistently

Things I did not know Before the season
1) Th NFL is all about protecting the QB, If a QB slides you cannot touch him, Unless he wears an orange Helmet. (See Hoyer)
2) You cannot brush a QB on the helmet, but if he has an orange helmet a right cross to the chin is allowed. (See J.Campbell)
3) Safety is the most important thing for the integrity of the league, street violence is not allowed, unless you have an orange helmet where as you can be openly choked with 2 hands. (See Gregg Little)
4) You cannot tackle or knock down a receiver while the ball is in the air, unless they are a tight end wearing an orange helmet.

I don’t see the Steelers running the table, but all the games are winnable. Ravens will be tough in Baltimore, expect a 3 point game. A-rod should be back for his first game against Pittsburgh. Plus home against the Browns, Bengals, and Dolphins doesn’t hurt.

I hope everyone enjoyed the Steelers’ brief moment of struggles because it is over. Every year it is the same story: Steeler start slow and finish strong. This year it is no different.
==================================
No, that is not the story. In 2009 the Steelers 2nd half record was worse than the first half. The next two years, they had the same records for both halves of the year. In 2012, the second half record was worse than the 1st half. You have to go back to 2006 to find a year where they did better in the 2nd half of the year then they did in the first. They typically finish the same as they did in the first half or worse.

2009:

1st half- 6-2
2nd half 3-5

2010:

Won their first 3 games to go 6-2 through the first half of the season. Went 6-2 for the second half of the year.

Surging Steelers look like a legitimate playoff team. The good news for the Steelers is that they play A LOT of home games down the stretch. The bad news is that their schedule isn’t that easy @ BAL, VS MIA, VS CIN, @ GB, VS CLE.

Benaglguy. When , and ONLY when, your team does anything remotely successful, should you pop off about bad football teams. Your season is FAR from over. When was the last time the Bungals won a playoff game? Wait? Houston’s 2-9 this year, so losing to them 3 years in a row won’t happen? Maybe this’ll be your year? But I doubt it…

In all honesty I don’t know if there are words to describe how bad I feel for Browns fans. They consistently do their part and show up to the games just to watch Brandon Weeden squander whatever offensive production they have going (I realize he scored your only TD but c’mon he was bad). At least the jags and texans and bucs have a shot at getting a decent QB in draft. I hope Hoyer comes back healthy for you guys next season and Weeden gets to go work at Walmart.

Seriously Weeden? I understand your pocket collapsed and you were running for your life but c’mon tuck the ball in when you run you dope. Hang in there Browns fans.

I am pleased the Steelers are playing better. But let’s remember they lost to a sub-par Titans team, a less than great Vikings team and a horrible Raiders team. While I would like to think that like 2008 they might run the table and win the Super Bowl as the #6 seed, I would not be posting those things on a website as a realistic expectation. Sports should be a pleasant respite from the demands of day-to-day life, not life an addition to the pressure. I also offer my condolances to all those loyal Browns fans that watch yet another season look as though it will end well. I think your management is headed in the right direction. You have some real talent on and off the field, but injuries and lack of depth have hurt you. It will get better.

Get the first half of this season out of your heads to the people who claim the Steelers are done and/or are bad. This is a COMPLETELY different team with basically a new roster and philosophy with personal IN THE RIGHT GROUPING. They went through some growing pains and were turning the ball over at a RAPID rate.

We are 5-2 the past 7 games and are +7 in the turnover ratio all of a sudden. We do that, we’re just as good as ANYBODY and we’re only going to get better. The Pittsburgh Steelers are a resilient bunch. They could have tanked like the Texans or Falcons but they chose to fight and now, they are focused on that last WC spot.

Why was I born in this awful sports state? Cursed. Just like the city of Cleveland. I can only hope we will hereafter avoid drafting QBs who lack football intelligence and talent. But man, I hate the Steelers. Call it jealousy or whatever you want. I’m just being honest.

The Steelers dominated the Clowns in Cleveland…. From 0-4 to possible divisional winners or wildcard has become a reality for a team some people gave no chance. Come on out haters, Steeler Nation is waiting.

Being a long time browns since 1960, I live and die by my team. That being said… Pittsburgh is a mediocre team at best. Even if they make the playoffs and early exited is probable. That excites you? This is what excites me. I see the Browns headed in the right direction, finally having the right coaches and front office in place. 29 million under the cap, two 1st round picks in 14 and talent that is on the team already. Our time is coming, be prepared

I’m just happy that the Steelers are even in the conversation of the Playoffs. After the 0-4 start all I was talking about was who they were going to draft. Yeah coming from 0-4 and talking about the draft to now being 5-6 and talking Playoffs so yeah that’s a pretty big deal.

It’s hard to win when you turn the ball over 4 times, right Steelers fans? I mean that was your excuse when you lost Cleveland last year. Josh Gordon absolutely lit up their secondary, And if Cleveland actually had a QB, or RB, it may have been a different game

Pittsburgh and Baltimore may be mediocre – – but they have heart. Atlanta and Houston could take notes. And even if the Steelers and Ravens had a combined five wins, they’d play hard enough to make it worth while to watch them on Thanksgiving.

Steelers are hot right now but it’s not like they’ve played good teams (other than Detroit but they handed the ball to them and they’re SUCKING right now). I’m not saying it’s undeserved, but it’s sure as hell funny how these Steeler fans are cheering like crap but when they actually play some real teams they’re quiet. Congrats for the win, we’ll see you in Baltimore on Thursday.

Baltimore’s lost a LOT of close games. They can easily be a 7-4 team or some what like that, but a loss is a loss. I don’t think you guys can come in and march on us like some of the idiots commented, it’s going to be a close game. I think you guys pull this out however because our run game sucks. Today was a great win for us (against a better team than the browns LOL) so hopefully we can carry some momentum and lay a beatdown on you guys, cause we’ll be the first real team you’ve played who hasn’t handed the game to you (I think our loss to you guys was the same, we gave up that return).

We’ll be ready, the stakes are high and we’ll see who pulls this out. I have faith in my Ravens, but I’m going with the Squealers here. Please Baltimore, get a W. This is either going to make or break our season.

jmblosser82 says:
Nov 24, 2013 6:38 PM
Jr4real, the loss to the titans or raiders only matter if it’s 2 teams tied at the end, a three way tie skips over head to head. So right now the steelers have the inside track.

———–

Jmb

I agree to a point. However, 3 teams or more tiebreaker does not determine who gets the playoff seed. It determines which teams get eliminated. After any team is eliminated the tiebreaker goes back to the start until 2 teams are left. Therefore it will get down to 2 teams. And the steelers won’t win the tiebreaker against the titans.

Ballboy48, the difference between the steelers 6 turnover loss last year and the Browns 4 turnover loss this year is that 1 team got blown out and the other list by 6. Playing the what if game is pointless. No matter how much you play it nothing changes. Plus the Browns are what, 3-22 in the last 25 games against Pittsburgh? Even in a down year/period for the Steelers the Browns can barely do anything.

Lightningbar, the steelers lost close games too, they could just as easily be 10-1, but that’s not how the cookie crumbled. The Steelers are playing well in all phases if the game. The run game is getting respectable, the pass game is top 10, the defense is playing lights out, and the special teams are playing mistake free.

Jr4real, right now Steelers are slotted as the 6th seed, 3 home games to go, and all 5 games are winnable.

The Steelers made that crystal clear today in Cleveland, going on the road and whipping the Browns in all phases of the game, winning 27-11.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not really “all phases of the game.” The Steelers defense busted the game wide open. The Steelers and Browns offenses were both putrid.

Without the Steeler defense handing the offense 14 points Roethlisberger is good for his usual anemic 13 points and the Steelers would be lucky to squeak out a nailbiter 13-11 win.

Citizen strange, it does matter if you win 2-0 or 55-0, a win is a win. Obviously you do not know what traditional steeler football is, eat up the clock and stout defense. Yea Gay had a pick-6, a fumble recovery set up a 1st and goal and the offense put up 10 points off of turnovers. The steelers ate up almost 34 minutes if clock, won the turn over battle, protected the ball, put up almost 300 yards on offense, and kept points off the board. So yea they played great in all phases if the game.

Nov 24, 2013 7:25 PM
It’s hard to win when you turn the ball over 4 times, right Steelers fans? I mean that was your excuse when you lost Cleveland last year. Josh Gordon absolutely lit up their secondary, And if Cleveland actually had a QB, or RB, it may have been a different game

Citizen strange, it does matter if you win 2-0 or 55-0, a win is a win. Obviously you do not know what traditional steeler football is, …..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steeler football is having an anemic quarterback who can’t score and can’t win games unless the defense carries him on its back and drags him across the finish line.

Obviously you do not know what traditional Steeler football is. It is the Steelers sitting on the couch in January watching the playoffs. I guess we will see which one of us truly doesn’t understand what Steeler football is. I say it’s you.

Cstrange your almost as bad of a broken record as Bobzilla. The steelers won, the really only needed 7 points because the last score was a trash time score, but I guess trash time only counts against the Steelers. Sure I’d like to see more scoring but at the end of the day the team stat of a win is all that matters. The point of football is to not turn over the football and score more points then the other team, it takes both offense and defense to do so, not to mention special teams.

Denver was up 24-0 at half time thanks to the defense, ended up losing 34-31 due to the fact Manning couldn’t move the ball. I’ll take my teams 20 point offensive production and a win then a teams 24 point offensive production and a loss.

Jr4real you were right, titans are the 6th seed, but with games at the colts, at the broncos and home against the cards plus the texans and jags are not really gimmie games cause division games are always tough I like the steelers chances if finishing with a better record with playing the fins, browns, and bengals at home and the ravens and packers on the road.

First of all, the Browns are a horrible team. Secondly, the Steelers did everything they needed to do to beat a horrible team…get turnovers and don’t turn the ball over. I’ve been saying it all year, you win and lose with turnovers.

Once again the Steelers showed why this hasn’t been a rivalry since the Browns came back to Cleveland in ’99. I am a Browns fan, season ticket holder, and am absolutely disgusted by the lack of performance on the field. Why would any fan in their right mind want to come watch a game like that in warm weather, let alone a 20 degree day with the wind coming off the lake. Although it was great to see Gordon make all those catches, it was obvious the defense was letting us chew the clock up. Out coached, out played, out of any type of playoffs. Thanks front office for taking my money and giving me crap back. See you next year.
#truefan

Hey Pens5829,
Stick to hockey…. You apparently you STILL know nothing about football. Hopefully, you know more about the overrated Penguin franchise ……. Typical Pittsburgh fan….quiet for weeks, now that they win a few, poppin’ off!
Cincinnati & Green Bay will put a rest to your season in a few weeks.

Great game by the Browns. The steelers were just the better team. The defense played a grat game and the offense did what they needed to do to win. Troy Polamalu had a heck of a game. All around team effort from everyone.

Family’s in town and I was away from my Redzone yesterday, but my brother was getting constant updates on his cell. Excited we’ll all get to watch the Ravens game together Thursday night. Never thought a few weeks ago we’d be in the playoff hunt!! Yee-haaa!!!! My young nephew was fretting about losing out on a better draft pick. I told him, “Son, you play to win the game!”

Just need someone to kick Tennessee out of the way, and the Steelers control their own destiny!

I’ll take my teams 20 point offensive production and a win then a teams 24 point offensive production and a loss.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And I’ll take a quarterback who can carry his team into the playoffs rather then a quarterback who will be sitting on the couch watching the playoffs AGAIN because unless the defense picks him up and carries him on it’s back and drags him across the finish line he can’t get a win.

citizenstrange says:
Nov 24, 2013 8:34 PM
Not really “all phases of the game.” The Steelers defense busted the game wide open. The Steelers and Browns offenses were both putrid.

Without the Steeler defense handing the offense 14 points Roethlisberger is good for his usual anemic 13 points and the Steelers would be lucky to squeak out a nailbiter 13-11 win.
———————————————–

Yeah, that 102.2 passer-rating number Ben put up sure proved he did nothing, huh? Total liability to the team!

Behold Citizenstrange, long-time resident of the bubble world where Bobzilla lives. Always ready to distort the facts to make it look like Roethlisberger didn’t perform. The fact is, Cleveland’s last TD was at garbage time, with the game well over, so the Steelers weren’t “lucky to squeak out” anything.

Roethlisberger was in charge the whole game, and took over. Cleveland never was in it after halftime.

I guess in citizenstrange’s and Bobzilla’s world, defense doesn’t count in a game, unless the team puts up 45 points it’s a fail.

Anyone can watch the offense and can see the main reason the points get put up is Ben. The line has been playing a lot better but the first 6-7 games it was terrible, the run game is still subpar but it’s gaining traction. It’s true the receivers make plays on short throws but Ben does have a few downfield TD passes. If the team had been playing in the groove they are in now the whole season you could add 3 wins minimal to the total. The 6th seed is obtainable but I would still like to see them miss out and get a better pick and get back to Steeler football next season.

Now back from Mexico and watched the DVR of the game. It was difficult staying away from PFT the whole time so I didn’t know who won the game until I could watch it LOL.

Steelers overall playing very well right now, and fighting hard. As some said, they don’t quit and the game against the Ravens will be huge. Steelers can make the playoffs if they continue to play as well as they are playing. The offense controlled the ball. Ben was very efficient, getting rid of the ball quick and not making mistakes. The defense is getting turnovers, and that is affecting the outcome in a positive way. Ike Taylor had yet another horrible game, playing off the receiver, chasing him and missing tackles; I am a little concerned about him, with his bad games against Megatron and Gordon, he has to tighten up a lot since he is an important part of the defense. Heyward is really coming on strong! Not really missing Woodley, at all and his huge salary. Timmons and Worilds doing pretty well overall, and Jones may finally be learning the position.

Also, a Steeler game just cannot pass without the SOS coming from citizenstrange (or bobz). It is literally SOS!! If the Steelers don’t win 60-0 and if Ben does not throw for 500 yards and 7 TD passes, cs thinks Ben is worthless. It is completely laughable. The Steelers scored a ton of points against the Pats and LOST.